


Teamwork

by Keye



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-24
Updated: 2010-01-24
Packaged: 2017-10-06 15:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keye/pseuds/Keye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the early days of filming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teamwork

They're like kids together, Elijah and Dom and Billy, clowning around with no care beyond learning the day's lesson. Sword fighting, it is. Working at being a team. I do my damnedest to join the play, to fit in, but I know I'm odd man out, and they know it too. That's why Elijah gives me special attention, singling me out again and again in the free-for-all, coming at me with his Orc face on. I quickly knock aside his attack and have him on the floor, because damn, I'm good at this. The fourth time down, he has a giggle fit, and I'm grinning as I grasp his hand to help him up.

"It's all right, Mister Frodo. Your Sam'll be there to fight off the meanies."

I expect he'll show me some sass for that, but he only smiles, soft and sweet, and says it's a good thing for him.

We've got the evening free after practice and they're going out on the town. Billy asks if I'm coming, but I beg off. I've got responsibilities they don't, need to look over some stuff for Lava, like I told Chris I would three days ago. More to the point, I feel in over my head with them sometimes. I suspect they don't really want me along. I say with a chuckle I don't feel that I'd just slow them down, and Elijah fixes me with a look so intense it makes my chest tighten.

"Come with us, Sean."

The plea is in his eyes. Maybe he feels a little in over his head as well. If that's so, it's something he's only showing to me. He trusts me and wants me near, and I can't say no.

It isn't my thing, the drinking and carousing, the music so loud it's hard to think, much less talk. Elijah loves it, I can tell, but I think there's a part of him that isn't sure of his footing still. He gravitates back to the table where I sit, leaving Dom and Billy chatting up the girls at the bar. He looks as tired as I feel. When he lays his head down on the table with a sigh, I decide we've both had enough and call a taxi to take him home.

Of course, it isn't home, any more than the house they've put me in, but he's made his mark on it. I resist an urge to start tidying up. It's late. I should just go. But he settles into the jumbled couch cushions and asks me to stay a while.

I know what he's feeling. He's a little homesick. So am I. He puts in a DVD and I sit and watch it with him, until it's halfway through and he lays his head on my shoulder and falls asleep. I should go, but I don't. Until Chris and Ally come, until we can all settle into a routine that's comfortable, I can be Elijah's family, and he can be mine. It touches me to the heart, that of all those willing and eager to be his friend, I'm the one he's chosen for comfort. It makes me feel more a part of the team. I'm smiling as I lean my head back and close my eyes.


End file.
